Juan Peron and the Jews of Argentina, 1943-1949

113 Pages·2005·2.48 MB·English

by  Marder, Jeffrey

TOWARD A CONVZIJENCZA:
JUAN PERON AND THE JEWS OF ARGENTINA. 1943- 1949
by
Jeffrey Marder
B.A., University of Western Ontario, 1990
THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF ARTS
in the Department
of
History
O Jeffrey K. Marder 1996
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
February 1996
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Titie of Thesis/Project/Extended Essay
Author: -
4
(signatur@
(name)
I
(date)
NAME: Jeffrey Marder
DEGREE:
TITLE: Toward a Convivencia:J uan Per6n and the
Jews of Argentina, 1943- 1949
EXAMINING COMMITTEE:
Chair: Jack Little
/ .
Ronald Newton, Professor
Richard Boyer, Professbr
c&&
Alberto Professor
Department of Political Science
Simon Fraser University
External Examiner
Date: 1 February 1996
ABSTRACT
ne coup of 4 Jme 1943, and the accompanying upsurge in antisemitic activity, initiated I.. prisj of'c risis
for Argentina's Jewish community; Juan Perbn's subsequent transformation of Argentine politics created
further difficulties. Using, primarily, newspaper sources from the Argentine Jewish community, the thesis
analyzes the response of the Delegaci6n de Asuciaciones Israelitas Argentinas (DAIA) to the issues of
antisemitism, Jewish immigration, and Peronism.
Encouraged by the June coup, Nationalist thugs began a campaign of antisetnitic violence. Littlc
effort was made to suppress this activity by a government which itself was strongly influenced by
Argentine Nationalism: by October 1943 two ultranationalists occupied cabinet posts, and a third, Col.
Filomeno Velazco, later became Buenos Aires Police Chief. In calling for greater government assistance
for its own efforts against the antisemitic campaign, the Jewish community, under the leadership of the
DAIA's MoisCs Goldrnan and Ricardo Dubrovsky, levelled criticism delicately. At the same time, as
awareness grew of the tragedy in Europe, Argentine Jewry lobbied for higher Jewish immigration.
In late 1945, Peronist politics began to create new pressures on Argentine Jewry. As forces within
the community strongly opposed Per6n1sb id for the presidency, the DAIA worked hard to maintain Jewish
political neutrality. Per6n1s February 1946 victory did not end antisemitic violence; yet the DAIA
developed a cordial relationship with Per611, who slowly isolated his government's most extreme
Nationalists. While the Jewish leadership lost patience with Police Chief Velazco, the anly government
official whom the community openly attacked was Santiago Peralta, the antisemitic Director of
Immigration. By mid 1947 Peralta and Velazco had been ousted. Though their departure owed more lo
Per6n's efforts to improve relations with the United States, the Jewish leadership was pleased. The
iii
estab~ishmnto f the State of Israel offset an immigration poiicy which still did not welcome Jews to
hi-geniina. More irmportantiy, the antisemitic campaign died down after 1947.
Argentina's Jews, however, still faced a challenge in the populist rule of Per6n. Per6n did not use
the Peronist Organizaci6n Israelita Argentina (OW) to co-opt the community, but rather to facilitate open
cordiality and the exchange of favours. The DNA's own efforts to please the president may have protected
community "interests" but they did not represent general Jewish opinion which. the evidence suggests, did
not support Percin.
ACKNOWLEDGIMENTS
I would like to thank my senior supervisor Ron Newton, who led me to the study of Argentina's Jews under
PerBn, and who provided rany valuable, critical suggestions as my thesis began to take form. Alr~i~~~tl~r
Freund assisted me with his translations of German language material. f have greatly appreciated the cffort
of Charles Steele who spent many long hours as my computer consultant and word processing ridvisor.
My parents, Morton and Annette. have provided unending support and encouragement 11~rougt10ut
my studies. I owe special thanks to Sandra MacPherson who read many draft versions of the thesis, Icnt
me her much-needed editing skills, and asked me many important questions, forcing me to rethink several of
my conclusions. Sandra has helped in many other ways as well, and it would be impossible to relate lhc
full extent of her support.
CONTENTS
........................................................................................................................................................ ...
ABSTWCT
111
.................................................................................................................................
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v
................................................................................................................................................
INTRODUCTION 1
.........
CHAPTER ONE .T HE JEWS OF PERON'S ARGENTINA: DEMOGRAPHY AND HISTORIOGRAPHY 4
. ....................................................................
CHAPTER TWO FIGHTING NATICNALIST ANTISEMITISM 15
CHAPTER THREE .J EWISH IMMIGRATION UNDER PERON ..................................................................... 39
. ................................................................
CHAPTER FOUR THE OIA BETWEEN PERON AND THE JEWS 51
..........................................................*...............................*..........................
CHAPTER FIVE .C ONCLUSION 72
...............................................................................................................................................................
NOTES -78
...............................................................................................................................................
BIBLIOGRAPHY 99
INTRODUCTIION
Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares, in their story "La fiesta del Monstruo." describe rilob of
it
uncultured political fanatics making their way to a rally where their leader, el Momtrrro, will speak.
Unruly from the start, the men become angry and violent when a Jewish student, who accidentally stcps
into their path, refuses to show el Monstruo due respect. The group attacks the unfortunate Jew, stow
him to death, and, as a final affront, strips his body of anything valuable before hurrying off to the Plaza de
Mayo where their leader is to address the nation.' Set in 1947, "La fiesta del Monstruo" can be interpreted
as a fictionalized representation of the extremism of Juan Per6nfsN ationalist supporters.'
The crudity of the sketch typifies the popular understanding of Per6n's relationship with
Argentina's Jews. Per6n's opponents readily manipulated the Jewish question as part of their political
program: they distorted the facts, hastily and erroneously characterizing Perdn as an antisemire. In this
undertaking they found North American dies: U.S. efforts to neutralize Per6n by portraying Argenriria as
a "Nazi menace" culminated in the State Department's publication in 1946 of the "Blue Book," which
purported to show the country's links with the In Chapter One, with a critical survey of the
literature dzscribing Per6n's relationship with Argentina's Jews, I begin the task of drawing an accurate
picture from the proliferation of hasty, politically-moiivated writing.
Despite its hyperbole, "La fiesta del Monstruo" is not wholly divorced from reality. In the 1940s
Nationalist supporters of Per6n did behave abominably toward Argentina's Jewish community .
Synagogues were defaced, antisemitic graffiti appeared throughout Buenos Aires, and individual Jews were
repeatedly taunted and provoked. Moi-eovei-, such attacks took place, as in Borges' story, in a political
context. Allegations that the Jewish community opposed Per6n strengthened the resolve of his Nationalist
supporters whose ideology had long seen the "Jew" as an enemy. Not all Peronists yfrrp antisemitic, but an
influential minority certainly was. Significantly, even as Per6n dissociated himself from the Nationalist
street violence which plagued Argentina's Jewish community, he was slow to purge his government of
several ultranationalists, among them the Buenos Aires Police Chief and the Director of 1-hgration. In
his early years in power, Perbn was reluctant to cut ties with his antisemitic supporters for fear of
jeopardizing his own power base. How, then, did Argentina's Jewish leadership combat a campaign of
antisemitism without alienating the president? With the lTlmited States quick to charge the Argentine regime
with supporting antisemitism, how did relations between the two countries affect the situation of
Argentina's Jews? Answers to these questions emerge in my analysis, in Chapter Two, of Jewish efforts to
combat antisemitism.
Along with antisemitism, Jewish immigration was a vital concern for the community, both during
the war and in the immediate postwar period. With Argentine neutrality reinforced by the 4 June '1943
coup, Argentina was in a favourable position to negotiate with Nazi Germany for the passage of Jewish
refugees. But what concern for the fate of European Jews could have been expected from a "revolutionary"
government tainted by antisemitism? Jewish calls for increased immigration certainly went unheeded by
Argentina's blatantly antisemitic Director of Immigration, Santiago Peralta. Even after Peralta's dismissal,
could Argentina reconcile its immigration policy, which discriminated againsr Iewish refugees, with Perbn's
call for massive immigration? I exmine these questions in Chapter Three.
Finally, how could the Jewish community hope to isolate itself from the passionate emotions that
politicized and polarized Per6n's Argentina? As the centre of the controversy over the antisemitic nature of
Peronism, Jewish Argentina was under great pressure. Did the Jews resist inclusion in Perbn's mass
movement, or did they cooperate and somehow compromise themselves? In Chapter Four I examine the
effects of Peronism on the community.
Neutral for most of the Second World War, Argentina found itself in the mid 1940s overtaken by the
worker-based populist movement of Juan Per6n. While Peronism helped transform Argentine society, it
also helped lay the foundation for the violent civil conflicts of subsequent decades--conflicts in which the
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